Standing on my Own
by Chronicoles
Summary: Ken has a lot on his mind, especially towards a certain Diva. He's being swayed by a human devil and angel but the thing is he wants to stand firm and control his life. Control his love.
1. Hungry for Action

DISCLAIMER: I own no characters mentioned in this story and they were written for entertainment purposes only.

**STANDING ON MY OWN**

CHAPTER ONE: _Hungry for Action  
_

Imagine a woman, happily engaged. Imagine a man in a healthy relationship with his girlfriend. If Cupid struck these two lovers to a bittersweet serenity of affection, who is truly at fault in this kind of situation? Would you blame the mythical Greek legend that is usually involved in these problems? Or would you blame the uncontrollable urges between the two that has resulted in crimes of passion? The question at hand; however, is this: Are you going to try and stop it?

He was walking alone in the halls of the corridor; the brash and bleached young upstart had a rough duffel bag hanging over his right shoulder while wearing the most casual of clothes after going through a workout routine at the gym. Ken Kennedy pushed through the entrance to the backstage area where some people usually gorged into a meal of luxury provided to them from the company if they did not wish to eat out.

"Jimmy served us some Chinese!" Gregory Helms would always say around some of his friends like Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Shannon Moore and an amused Jimmy Wang Yang. But Ken wasn't really looking for a table to eat lunch on; he already did so at a local diner. He was inquiring in his own mind, "What's for dessert?"

The answer was just right at the corner – literally. There he saw the vending machine that also contained what he was craving for at that moment and that was a good bar of Snickers to help vitalize him for a while. He dropped his bag at the nearest empty table and went over to the machine. Waiting for his selection to be dropped on the space below for his to claim, Ken whipped out his phone and noticed that he had received a message that put a smile on his face. It was from his girlfriend.

They have been dating for two years and Ken hoped to keep her longer. He opened the message and read the usual "I love you, I miss you" kind of note that most wrestlers were used to from their loved ones. He also replied with the same message, just adding the word "too" after "you."

He put it back inside his pocket and squatted down to get his Snickers bar but felt surprised as he ended up with nothing. It was like having your wallet snatched away without you knowing. He looked up and saw the Snickers bar that was about to fall down to the hatch. Tapping the glass, he groaned and felt like he got screwed out of his money. Ken slowly got up, staring daggers at the machine until a slightly raspy voice behind Ken caught him by surprise.

"That happens to me all the time, man." He turned around and looked at none other than RAW Superstar, Randy Orton, who was also in his own casual clothing. It was a WWE Super Show that night with not just RAW and SmackDown like before but with the revised ECW as well.

Getting back to the small chit-chat, Ken replied to him, "Really? What did you do about them?" Randy shrugged his shoulders and stepped in front of him. He gave the machine a small hit and the Snickers bar fell into its proper place. "Sometimes it falls down, sometimes it doesn't. Eventually, it will fall down into the right place. The thing is it usually won't for you but for somebody else if you don't give it a whack. But what the hell, at least you made one person happy." Ken reached into the machine and got his Snickers bar out, examining it for a while. "Thanks, Randy..." he said.

"Don't mention it, man. You're that Kennedy guy, right? Ken Kennedy?" Randy asked, making sure he got things right. Ken slowly nodded while chewing into his newly claimed chocolate bar. "Yeah, I like your announcing thing." Both of the guys walked over to the table Ken laid his bag on, sharing a few laughs. Randy said, "Hey, man. After you're done with that, I'll show you something neat around the locker room." Ken had a gut feeling that it was going to be a rib. He just wasn't sure if it was for him or for somebody else. Either way, he was curious. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.

After a while of conversation, Randy led Kennedy through the hallway and they arrived at their destination. "The Women's Locker Room," Ken read from the sign on the door with an inquisitive tone of voice. "Randy, this isn't Porky's. You should know that by now." Randy chuckled along with Ken, showing that he knew what he was doing. He peeked through the small opening along the door and watched the exhibitionist, Kelly Kelly, dressing up with a towel around her body.

"Hey, Ken. Get over here and check out the goods on K-Squared."

"Who's K-Squared?"

"You know... Kelly Kelly? The stripper chick in ECW. We call her K-Squared because both of her names start with the letter K and sometimes, she could be a real square. She'd get lost in the building sometimes and she's really gullible. She makes it easy ribbing."

Ken felt a bit uncertain about Randy's actions but just one visit from a locker room leader turned everything around. And they were female. "Randall Keith Orton!" a hot (in more ways than one) Mickie James shrieked and raised her voice at the heinous crime. Randy was startled and he pretended that he wasn't able to look at Kelly Kelly as he stared into an angry Mickie's eyes. She then turned her attention to a man she was much more familiar with and cooled off. "Wow! It's you, Ken!" she continued, "I haven't seen you since 2005 back in Kentucky! We finally meet again! Good to see you!"

It was suddenly a mood swing when she met eyes with Randy. She poked his chest saying, "I still don't approve of your actions! You should be ashamed of yourself, sneaking up on Barbara like that." _"She's acting like a damn feminist..."_ Ken thought to himself as he watched Mickie ramble on in front of a bored Orton. "I take it, Randy. You do this every time?" Ken asked. "K-Squared knows what she does!" he retorted. Mickie shot him another glare and got into another rant, "And that's also one thing to call her K-Squared! She has a name you know... You could settle with Kelly, Barbie, Barbara, etc. but you dare to even accompany a reason with calling her that silly algebraic monomial!" "Gee, Mickie. Online college really took a toll on you." Orton remarked, snickering afterwards. Mickie didn't find it amusing, Ken was just indifferent. However, Ken added up, "In his defense, he didn't want to make her feel like Barbara Walters."

Mickie sighed and gave up on Randy's case and turned her attention to Ken who was just watching her bicker all that time. Her cheeks turned red in embarrassment and started apologizing to him. "I'm so sorry that you had to listen to that, Ken. Randy here just has to learn his lesson, that's all. With Trish and Lita gone and all, I stepped up and became the locker room leader for the girls here. I have to set the example, y'know?" Ken grinned and gave a little chuckle, "That's totally fine, Mick. You just got to keep guys like Orton here and put them in their place." Randy got a bit annoyed and playfully yelled out to Ken, "Whose side are you on, man?"

They had a small shoving match to their shoulders, all in good fun of course. Mickie giggled in amusement at the two. She started up, "But seriously, guys. Quit it, alright? Wrestling may be a dog-eat-dog world but we still got to respect each other." She put her two thumbs up with her eyes that said, "Got it?" Orton and Ken replied with small nods and quiet answers of agreement under their breath.

Mickie excused herself from the conversation and walked through the doorway of the Women's Locker Room where Kelly Kelly just finished dressing up in her own clothing and made her exit through the same door. She scanned Ken and Randy from head to toe and told them, "Smooth move... But not smooth enough." She especially looked at Ken a funny way and giggled. As she walked on by, Randy put his hand on her shoulder and asked her to stop for a while.

"Wait, what was that supposed to mean?" he questioned. Kelly turned to look at Ken and replied, "I overheard your conversation with Mickie earlier. Your tone of voice explained it all to me. I know your little secret." Kelly winked and flicked her hair as she turned to walk away. What she said left Randy and Ken really confused, especially the blonde who was even living up to his stereotype: a blonde. "How the fuck do women do that?" Randy wondered. Ken shook his head and tried to get it all out of his head. He answered, "I don't know, man. Let's just go."

After a while, they got bored along the corridor and sparked up a small conversation to pass the time as they tried to reach their destination of nowhere. "So, how are Mickie and Kenny? Are they still dating each other?" Ken asked, putting his arms up and his hands behind his head as he took every step. "They're engaged." Randy said bluntly like he didn't care but for some reason, it jerked Ken to stop abruptly and stare into the air.

Randy commented, "I doubt they'll be able to commit to each other completely anyway... Their age difference, their clash of personalities... Mickie is this sweet Virginian girl while Kenny... Ken's a rear canal. A Grade-A asshole." "Much like you?" Ken remarked. Randy couldn't keep a straight face at that one. He knew it was true but he still had to deny it. Laughing, he said, "Right back at ya."

"Doane... He's a lucky guy, scoring a girl like Mickie." Ken said, putting his hands into his side pockets. "Mickie, Mickie, Mickie... Why do you always talk about that girl?" Orton asked, annoyed. Ken shrugged his shoulders and looked up, he really didn't know why either. It just came out like word vomit. They both pondered to the earlier events as they advanced through the hallway. Suddenly, a wild idea struck through Randy's mind like a bullet to the brain. "Why didn't I see this before?" Randy stopped at his tracks and said under his breath. And then he looked at Ken and pointed at him, yelling. "You've got the hots for Mickie freaking James, man!"


	2. Emotions Unleashed

DISCLAIMER: I own no characters mentioned in this story and they were written for entertainment purposes only.

**STANDING ON MY OWN**

CHAPTER TWO: _Emotions Unleashed  
_

The cry turned a few heads from the people along the aisle, a few workers going over their spots for their matches tonight but nothing too ground-breaking like another diva. Ken hushed down Orton who had his usual devilish smirk on his face at times like these. In a quiet but angry tone, Ken voiced out, "Orton! You know gossip spreads like wildfire in this business!" The people around went back to their activities and decided not to join in, fortunately for Ken. The two started speaking in hushed up voices.

"I can't have feelings like those for Mickie. I have a girl back at home that I've been dating for two years. TWO YEARS! Never would I let her go for this high school drama remake."

"Chill, man. Just chill out. You don't have to let her go or let her go through any of that shit. She's never gonna find out, since you're on the road and all."

"Didn't you just tell me that Ken and Mickie are engaged?"

"Look, it's not cheating if you don't get caught. You know that in the wrestling business. You know that in school. You know that in relationships. Deciding whether it's bad or wrong totally depends on your own judgment!"

There was a moment of silence between the two after having a small heated argument. Ken took a deep breath, setting his hands on the back of his head again. "Look man," Randy continued, "if you don't wanna go through with it then fine. But you know it inside of you, you have the urge to just grab Mickie by the back of her neck, pulling her face close to yours and reciting those three special words softly to her ear. If you liked her that badly, you wouldn't let an opportunity get past you and ridicule you for being dead last. You just can't bottle your emotions, Ken. It's not like that. You'll crack. Snap. You'll fucking hurt yourself, man."

Ken didn't feel convinced at first, he just stared daggers at his friend. Randy felt he wasn't done yet, either. He rolled up his right sleeve and showed to Ken the tattoo of his fiancée's name, "Samantha."

"You see this, Ken? You see THIS? It's like chain smoking. This tattoo is the nicotine patch to my addiction. I've been with many women when I first started here and they all ended up the same anyway. I ended up settling with Samantha. Oh hell yeah, I was happy. I loved her. But something inside of me told me to regret my decision. My fooling around with women became my addiction and with Sam, I can't have the same fun that I used to have. I tell myself to be more responsible this time but I just can't fulfill it which brings me to the point I have been bringing to you over the past few minutes. You can't control your urges. You can't control your feelings. You think you can but you fail in the end. You have to let it out or else you'll be punching pillows every night in frustration, asking yourself, "Why didn't I tell her?" Bank on it, Ken. You'll hate yourself!"

Randy's words were so intense; no one ever saw that side of him before. It surely made Ken fall into a deep thought of silence. He didn't have anything else to say to match up. All he did was lay his back against the wall and sighed, contemplating. The sharp glare on Randy's face started to cool down. He just proved his point without even realizing it, releasing all the things he felt like saying to Ken in a long but hard-hitting talk. He patted Ken on his shoulder and walked off without a word.

Ken just sighed. He formulated it in his head, like he was answering a Math question on the board but he hasn't arrived at the solution yet. Actually, he knew the answer in his head already. He was just solving on how to get it. He paced along the room, getting thrown off his game in a dazed state until he was inserted back into it by the SmackDown head booker, Michael Hayes.

"Kennedy. You know you're working a match with Hardy, right?" he asked. It took Ken a while to comprehend. A lot was on his mind. He then remembered that tonight, he was going to be wrestling Matt Hardy and he has not been able to talk to him about it either. He lied through his teeth, "Yeah, I know. I'll review the match over with him." Hayes bought it but with a bit of uncertainty and doubt in his face. He turned to walk away and reminded other Superstars about their matches for that night. Ken then decided that maybe discussing things with Matt Hardy would take his mind off Mickie. _"I'll get back to her some other time, I gotta be professional here!"_ he thought.

He turned around to the cafeteria since that's where he first found Matt but it seems that Michael caught to Matt already. The Hardy brother walked through the entrance of the cafeteria and the sight of Ken startled him. "Hey Matt, we've got a match." Matt was casual. He replied, "I know, Hayes told me. Where can we discuss this?" Ken scratched his head and his torso turned to see if there was an open spot. He saw the staircase nearest to them and pointed at it. He said, "Come on. Let's go talk over there."

They both settled at the foot of the stairs and started talking about some spots Matt would do and what Ken would do in general like rest holds, brawls and all the other factors. Suddenly, Matt suggested, "Why won't you debut a new finisher?" It caught Ken off-guard. It's like he heard Matt going from English to Chinese.

"Well, I'm supposed to put you over but I know that heels don't use high-flying maneuvers. Especially finishers! It's like an unwritten rule."

"Okay, so I'll just put my feet on the ropes or grab your tights... I mean, pants."

"No, Ken. You've been doing that for the past few months already. You gotta show these people that you're a force to be reckoned with. You need a ground finisher." Matt knew his stuff. He even knew how to put another athlete over with the crowd even when he's doing all the jobbing. Ken admired Matt's attitude and thought, _"Wow. I wish I had his mindset on things."_

"Look, just let me know which finisher you have in mind during a hold so I can know the setup. Good luck tonight, man." Matt patted Ken on the shoulder and walked off to the locker room so he can change to his gear. The memories of Matt going through relationship troubles started flooding in. He didn't want to be rude to bring it up again but Orton just told him to not bottle his emotions in or else. Ken had to do it.

He caught Matt's attention when he told him, "Matt, there's been something bothering me. Could you take the time to listen?" Ken was uncertain if Matt answered the call but the Hardy was willing to turn around and lend an ear for a fellow worker. "What's on your mind, K?" he asked.

Ken sighed but he took the plunge under the water and asked him, "Don't hurt me for bringing this up in front of your face but... When you were involved with Edge and Lita, what did you feel towards them? I mean, they were your closest friends, what more, Lita was your long-term girlfriend. You must've been pretty pissed, right?" he bit his lip and had a sense of regret in his eyes but Matt didn't react so strongly. "Ken. I know, I was mad at the two but it didn't kill me or anything. I didn't want to act like a poor victim. I wanted to overcome them but I guess I made the wrong move. Shit like this happens in the business, a lot. I thought it was pretty useless to cling on to Lita, I had to let her go."

Matt briefly covered his eyes with the palm of his hand. He continued, "It still hurts that she's gone. I tried to move on with Lori and Ashley but nothing just topped it. It's an emotional roller coaster, trust me. Edge and Lita stabbed me on the back and the heart because I was only aware of it WHEN it happened. Ken, if you're thinking of even cheating on whoever you're with to be with someone you love more... At least do it the right way. Call it quits with your girl first. I'm pretty sure you don't want one person to get hurt amidst all this." Matt took a deep breath and turned to walk away, picking up the pieces of his heart in a deep recollection.

That was two inputs Ken has heard that day. Orton and Hardy weren't exactly against the cheating but they all had their reasons to accompany it. Randy wanted Ken to unleash his bottled emotions without hesitation; Matt wanted him to make sure nobody got hurt like he did. He pondered over this clash of opinions but he sure decided one thing: He wanted to be single.

Before he would make the call, he wanted to make sure the plan was going to flow smoothly. He had to make contact with Mickie James or else it would all fall apart for him. He looked around the hallway and spotted her chestnut brown hair by the water dispenser, grabbing a cup for her to drink from. Ken took a deep breath and marched on over to her thinking, _"I'm a brave soldier. I'm a brave soldier. I'm a brave soldier."_

But when he saw a masculine arm swing over Mickie's shoulders, it's like he heard a record scratch from all the soft romantic music in his head. His eyes zoomed over to see whose arm was around her and felt devastated to see her fiancé, Kenny Doane. They giggled with each other and had a fun casual talk. Ken just stood there, watching. In his mind, he was cringing and wishing all that love would stop but a jerk on the arm from a backstage worker nearby snapped him back to his senses. He said, "Ken, you have five minutes to change into your gear." As soon as he left, Ken clenched his fists staring at the couple. _"Damn,"_ he thought to himself, _"better luck next time, Ken. Better luck next time."_


	3. Truth is a Five Letter Word

DISCLAIMER: I own no characters mentioned in this story and they were written for entertainment purposes only.

**STANDING ON MY OWN**

CHAPTER THREE: _Truth is a Five-Letter Word_

After the match against Matt Hardy, Ken went to the back as the victor. He heard the crowd booing him. But in his mind, it was applause. Apparently, during a headlock he applied on Matt, Ken whispered his plan for the finish. "I'm gonna be doing a Powerbomb when we get to the end, alright?" The match flowed smoothly and the finish got Kennedy over with the fans, only with heel heat.

A few people showed their appreciation towards Ken and later on, the returning Hardy by the gorilla position. Everything he needed to know about the match was cleared out of his mind now. He can finally settle things with Mickie. He just needed to find a way to dodge the bullet that was Kenny. Yet, he didn't even need to move a muscle for a young Randy Orton came running to him with good news. He told him, "Ken's got a match against Flair tonight, Mickie isn't in the card. Take your chance."

Ken was ecstatic because that was just what he wanted to hear. He had enough time to prepare his conversation with Mickie and add to the fact that Kenny wasn't there to witness. It was like being in the show, "24". He got to his locker room and changed back to his casual clothing. After SmackDown, it was a RAW event and Ken was more than ready to face Mickie and tell her the cold hard truth.

When Kenny Dykstra – Ken Doane – came out for his match against Ric Flair, Ken jumped the gun and wandered off to find Mickie. He mainly asked the divas, thinking they'd know where she is and at the same time, his mind is telling him what to say when he sees her. Fortunately, fellow Wisconsin-native, Candice Michelle told him that Mickie was eating and sulking in the cafeteria. "She seems a little down..." she said with concern, "I tried to be a good friend and comfort her but she just wouldn't open up." Ken wondered what the reason may be and thought it was a good opportunity to be closer to his goal. Candice said, "Maybe you should go try and talk to her!" and in his mind, he was right.

He rushed to the cafeteria goals but didn't push through the doors just yet. He leaned his back against the wall and made a run-through of his words. He was telling it to himself audibly but quietly. "Hey Mickie, you're so fine. You're so fine, you blow my... mind? Damn it, that's lame!" he cursed. "Mickie, your hair looks nice. What do you use? Wait, that's just as fruity as Skittles." He obviously had a hard time in formulating his words. But when he arrived to the right one, he took a deep breath and marched his way into the room.

The cafeteria was empty. It wasn't busy like we saw it. Everyone was off, either working out in the gym or preparing for their matches tonight. But Mickie James was seated by one table in a far-out corner, near the vending machine. Ken noticed her face filled with melancholy and her beautiful eyes trickling with tears. She then buried her head into her arms crossed over on the table like she was taking a nap and hiding her true feelings from anyone who could see her.

"Mickie, is everything alright?" Ken asked. Mickie heard his voice and put her head up, looking around. When she locked eyes with Ken, who was making his way towards her, she quickly sniffed the air and rubbed her eyes like she was just waking up from a deep slumber but she couldn't successfully hide her emotions. He sat beside her and swung his arm over her shoulders and lifted her chin up with his other hand. He gently pulled her hand away from her face and slowly started wiping the tears away from her face. "Everything's fine!" she said. "No, Mickie," he replied, "things don't seem fine. You can tell me anything, just let it out."

She gave up on denial and just poured her heart out unto the blonde, crying in between her words from time to time. "It's the pressure. It's getting to me. I know a lot of the guys have women back at home and they don't complain about it one bit. I know I'm already engaged to Kenny, it gives me the edge that everyone wants but I just don't feel the happiness. I mean, I AM happy. I know I am. I just don't FEEL like it. I feel pressured because a lot of bad things have happened between couples that work within the same company and I'm terrified that Kenny and I would just throw ourselves into a pit of despair. I don't know how to explain all that but you get what I mean, right?"

Mickie had her fingers sub-consciously intertwining with Ken's, who felt that he was going through the right path. She held back her tears now that all was said and done. "Confidence..." he brought up. The brunette was perplexed; she looked at him funnily and said, "Excuse me?" Ken looked down and sighed, and then he looked up and into Mickie's eyes.

He continued, "You lack confidence in your relationship. You feel that you're not strong enough to stand as still as the other couples who have made it through like Steph and Hunter or Sharmell and Booker. And what's more, I think that deep down; you don't feel confident towards Ken. It's either you're not the right girl for him or he's not the right guy for you."

She was turning away from him and releasing her hand from his and contemplating on what she just heard. Ken thought it was a bad sign when she did that and thought, _"Kamikaze Ken, you've done it again." _He thought that way until he heard Mickie say, "You're right." That even gave him a confused look on his face too, but she wasn't done yet. He saw her pulling a ring from her right ring finger and settling it down on the table with a bang. She cracked a smile after doing so and felt released of her problems. "I'll let Kenny know that the deal is off later!" Kennedy was surprised and thought, _"What? That was way too easy!" _

Mickie turned to face Ken and unexpectedly wrapped her arms around him tightly and expressing her gratitude. "Thanks so much for your advice, Ken!" _"Advice? That whole thing was advice?"_ he thought, but somehow it didn't matter anymore. He was going along the right track here. He didn't want to fix what was not broken. He then asked her, "So are you considering on whom you're spending the rest of your life with?" Mickie shook her head and answered, "I'm an independent from now on. The time will come, sooner or later." Well, at least he was still close to his goal and that's what really mattered to him.

They chatted with each other to pass the time, looking to catch up with each other's personal life. They heard the door creaking open and saw who was entering. It was none other than Ken Doane, coincidentally. Mickie and Ken nodded at each other and she got up from her seat and picked up the ring from the table. She approached him and said, "Ken... I can't go through with this anymore. I just don't think it'll work, I'm sorry." She got his hand and placed the ring flat on his palm. She had a sincere look on her face and Ken was just totally cool about it. Although, it still pierced his heart pretty badly. His hand coiled into a fist and brought it down to his side. "I'm sorry it couldn't work out for you, Mickie. Never forget, I still love you."

It all ended with a hug and then crossing over to silence. Ken was originally there to pick Mickie up but it seemed that all he had to do was turn over to the door, making his way out. Mickie slowly walked her way back to the table. She said softly, "I did it, Ken. I broke up with Kenny." The smile on her face was back with a glow but deep inside, Ken didn't feel the same. He felt remorse of ending one great relationship between two lovers, simply for his advantage. He tried shaking off his mindset of self-interest and opened up for a hug from the brunette but the thought of being a terrible person was stuck on the back of his mind.

"Mickie, it's been great talking to you. I thought you were very comfortable of opening up to me..." Ken said, not realizing what just came out. Mickie looked at him funnily with her brow raised up in confusion. After a straight face, Kennedy admitted, "That... that came out wrong. I'm sorry." The two laughed at each other and had a great small time together as friends, closer than how they were back in OVW. Mickie replied back, "Aww... it was great talking to you too, Ken! You were a great help when I needed it most. It's just too bad that we're on two separate brands, you know."

Ken thought of it as a perfect chance for them to exchange numbers. He whipped out the phone from his pocket and punched in keys, opting to add a new contact. He suggested to her, "Maybe we could communicate through this?" Mickie applauded lightly and had a goofy grin on her face. "That's a great idea!" she exclaimed as she took her phone out from her pocket as well. The two switched phones and registered their numbers into the contact list of each other.

As Mickie handed Ken's phone back to him, she started giggling like she had a little secret. Ken saw this and curiously asked her, "What are you laughing about, Mickie?" She answered, "Nothing! Technology's just a great thing, isn't it?" He chuckled and couldn't agree more with her with what just transpired. He replied, "Indeed it is, Mickie. Indeed it is." They both beamed at each other and nodded in agreement.

After a while, Mickie thought she should head off. "Well, I gotta jet at this hour. Gotta get to the hotel and sleep early because I have to drive all the way to the next city for a RAW house show and... Shit!" Her cursing caught Ken by surprised and made him ask, "Why? What's wrong?" Mickie just remembered, saying to him, "I forgot. Ken's usually the one that drives me from show to show." It seemed as if her happiness was washed away with sadness again as she stared down on the floor with worry in her mind and Ken didn't want to see her that way.

So he tapped Mickie on the shoulder and she looked up at him. He offered to her, "I could take you to the hotel if you want." In disbelief, Mickie's eyes widened after his bargain. She even went all, "Shut up! No way! Are you serious?" and all Ken had to do was nod to all her questions. Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around Ken's neck and slightly pulled him down for a nice big hug. "Thank you! Thanks so much, Ken! How could I repay you?" she said, kissing Ken on the cheek after every sign of heartfelt gratitude.

Ken's cheeks started getting red, but not in embarrassment. But he was definitely glad he could make Mickie happy with his small act of kindness. She released him from her hold and they both smiled at each other like they were waiting for something to happen. That was the feeling until Mickie brought up, "So... Can we go now?"

_Author's Note: Sorry to keep everyone waiting for the next installment. Maybe you could promote this story elsewhere? Other than that, keep those comments flowing like milk and honey!_


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